Catastrophe: Nimbus
by Accendrix
Summary: Slow updates! Sorry. Laurence Barnes experiences the effects of a supernatural phenomena known as a dimensional fissure. He awakens in a similar situation as to what he was previously harbored within...floating above the Earth's atmosphere with debris and shrapnel surrounding him. However there is another being near-by. One with almost identical parallels to the Major: Sierra-117


Destiny's a bitch

_Chapter One: What are you prepared to sacrifice?_

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**"When the greatest combat machine fails… what do we do then? What do I do?"**

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The Alpha Ceph, Ur-Didact, entities of indubitable power which were defeated by the mightiest warriors humanity had to offer. Both champions of either reality were victorious…however they both can agree that they have lost much more than what they have won. One warrior lost his humanity and almost all of Raptor, the brothers in arms he bonded with- however his conscious was not erased, simply synthesized into the best technology his superiors could offer. The other lost his cherished, zealous companion despite his best efforts. With his link to humanity lost, he is in dire need of his own humanity while also entrapping himself into the cold cage of the soldier's duty.

Prophet emerged victorious in his conflict against the dynamic Alpha Ceph. John-117 vanquished the supreme Ur-Didact. There is no shortage of enemies, however your supply of allies is limited, or so I thought.

…

With his renewed vigor, Prophet clutches the dog-tags of the fallen, and furiously races to end the threat of the Ceph. The epiphany of Archangel, the CELL orbital satellite with immense power, reminds Prophet that he still has a fighting chance. The brilliant spectacle of a wormhole and the Ceph manifestation slowly cresting it's way into Earth's atmosphere was amazing the soldier from behind his high-tech visor. Memories of Michael and Claire flashed through his mind as he works, Rasch's words echoing through his head as he realizes that this moment will be the moment. A decisive action which will cripple the Ceph and show them what humanity can do.

The gruff soldier in Laurence's conscious triumphantly declares: "This is for fucking with Earth!" as his suit hacks into Archangel and took advantage of the super weapon. A magnificent beam of light jets out of the satellite's barrel, producing an incredibly devastating effect upon the Ceph's space vessel. Gargantuan tentacles flail around as the Ceph ship's hull melted away, amazing explosions littering the exterior of the ship as Archangel continues it's hellish assault. The shockwave of the Ceph ship's demise smashes into Prophet, his breath catching in his throat as he flies away from Archangel, armored limbs and torso heating up quickly as the atmospherically friction affected Prophet's body. Feelings of panic, victory, honorable fulfillment, anger, and faint traces of content rush through Prophet's mind as he sails towards his home planet, space debris disintegrating on all sides of him as the gorgeous wormhole of earlier collapses. Suddenly, his chest seems to twist and squeeze itself, his bones begin to tremble from an unknown pressure, the nanites of his symbiotic suit shift and transform as they try to adapt to whatever new energy force is performing it's magic on Prophet's body. Laurence screams out in anguish, pain, fury, and joy. He then vanishes, dog-tags still clutched in his fingers.

…

"Infinity actual? Pelican-Nine-Sixer. We've found him…and something else."

…

The scrambling HUD of Laurence's visor continued to adjust itself as he awakened. He was floating freely in space, weightless. The bright rays of the sun could be seen cresting over Earth in all of it's beauty. Hundreds of thousands of pieces of metal shrapnel and debris drifted around him, and Prophet smiled to himself. However the absence of audio feedback, and the inability to control your own direction began to sow seeds of terror in the grizzled soldier's head. Slowly he drifted to his right, his thick leg and arm swaying up and down as he tried to regain his composure. Memories drifted back into his shocked mind, and Prophet recollected the last few moments of reality he had been apart of.

There was a sudden ripping feeling go through his body, ever fiber of his being appeared to be shaken and torn as his nanites rapidly moved while Alcatraz's biology struggled to cope with the forces affecting it. Deep in his subconscious, the force-recon marine silently thought to himself, pondering over what had just happened as the mechanical intelligence of the nano-suit analyzed and evaluated what had just occurred.

"M-my name…is Laurence Barnes. I remember." the soldier softly spoke aloud. Alcatraz smirked. His body connected against something hard and metal, and the shockwave of the impact shook him. The collision with this unidentified object, most likely some space debris of Archangel or whatever was transported from NYC to the outer-atmosphere.

Queitly pondering over the heart-breaking event(s) of the past hour, The Chief exhales softly as he clenches his fists. His closest friend, his adored companion who was so much more than a tool…was gone. Her last few moments were to ensure John's return, and the bittersweet taste of victory left the Spartan despaired over how he had not completed a mission as dear to him as the previous one had been: Cortana's safety. Even now her last words sifted through his mind, numbing the normally stoic Spartan as electrical pulses moved about.

The goliath pelican, shaded green and adorned with symbol and letters as well as external machinery, opened it's cargo hatch to accept it's guest. The Master Chief slowly cocked his head towards the pelican's cockpit, trying to ignore whatever had just collided with his broad, armored body. Back to back, the two soldiers floated, slowly rotating as the effects of this zero-gravity environment manipulated their direction.

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**/ So what's the feedback readers? Let's try to shape this up to be a helluva story. ~Accendrix**


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